ReScript – collaborative online editing of historical texts Bruce Tate British History Online Institute of Historical Research University of London © Bruce Tate

Key facts Pilot VRE project Launched Nov 2010, lasts 12 months Concerned with: – What form will editing take in the digital sphere? – How can online tools be successfully built in?

The bigger picture Historians collaborate by subject not location Little guidance or training for advanced research tools Existing Web 2.0 tools cannot accommodate complex editing project

The present situation British History Online – High accuracy transcriptions (99.995%) TRUST – Google search hardware FIDELITY – Static display and permanent URLs CITABLE

Picture of an iceberg

What is the IHR interested in People – Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion – Aubrey’s Brief Lives System – Foster’s Alumni Oxonienses – Parish Clerk Memoranda (St Botolph’s Aldgate)

Complexity of editing High – technical literacy, digital experience Medium – connecting external sources Low – reading for sense

Driving forces Social – will the adoption of digital tools in the profession be evenly distributed … Organisational – can we convince contributors to join in across a range of (unrelated) content …

Scenario 1 Each project requires substantial support However, new projects are attracted due to the specialised academic research focus of the editing environment

Scenario 2 A mood of conservativism in research makes it difficult to orchestrate widespread adoption of the project Small teams of contributors work well together and the product becomes a central part of future funding bids

Scenario 3 Severe cuts to research funding mean that the attributes of speed and web enablement of outcomes become more attractive to research projects Work gets published before it makes a coherent whole

The model must facilitate… Editing in a bespoke environment Publication for analysis Accessibility for inexperienced users

Now User consultation Spring Iterative build and launch Summer Analyse effect

Workspace Editing Workflow Discussion Interpretation Preservation

Editing Transcription Mark-up vectors Folksonomies Taxonomies Consistency e.g. references

People Roles (editing, interpreting) Core … invitation … application … open Create a register of expertise Cross discipline

Picture of skeleton Picture of computer monitor. Gets bigger

Publication Search results with facets Visualisation via timeline or map …or both …at the same time Aggregate query = thematic inquiry Managed external links: CCED, ODNB, BHO…

Parallax: multiple, concurrent views Aggregate queries Individual records Timeline Map Taxonomies Search result facets Folksonomy Tag clouds using source Stuff from any other site(s)

The audience Consume Discuss Feedback Review Collaborate by marking up or tagging Sign up for training – narrow the ‘Skills gap’

Sustainability No central funding, so… – Pay per view (i.e. advertising) – Register to configure interface – Collaborate and earn advertising-free version – Fee-based citation service – Training, online and offline – Fee for new projects’ set up and data ingest

A quote (so it must be the end) [EDIT: Quote about the history we made today] Henry Ford

Further info ‘ReScript – collaborative online editing of historical texts’ Digital Editing Workshop Institute of Historical Research, University of London Thursday 18 November 2010